DeSoto on Call
by jada951
Summary: What is the shift like for the guys after Johnny's close encounter with the snake?


+Alternate ending for my personally favorite epidsode, and lots of other folks too, Snakebite. Please just go w/ the slightly different flow.

Of course the guys don't belong to me. I'm just takin' them out for a spin, trying to read a bit more into their personalities and what they might be like outside the station too.

_DeSoto on Call_

_Roy knew in his head that he couldn't have been there when the rattler bit Johnny, his paramedic partner. He was in a helicopter with victims of a car accident and didn't learn about the life threatening injury until he hit Rampart. His heart squeezed tightly in his chest as he listened helplessly, while the engine crew rushed his friend to the hospital. Roy waited at the door to the ER for Big Red to deliver Johnny into waiting medical hands. When the guys took him off the back of the rig, Johnny looked so…still. And then the awful wait to see if the anti-venom would work! Thank God it did work, but the entire episode marked the longest couple of hours in his life. _

_ '__I know all the guys must have felt the same way,' Roy thought to himself. The rest of the shift just seemed like a blur. 'I'm glad we didn't have any serious calls. I don't know that any of us would have our minds totally on the job.'_

The next morning, before heading home, Roy stopped by the hospital to check on his partner. Even though Johnny still looked a bit pale, he seemed much better and was in animated, chatty mood. "How ya doing Roy? Lookin' a little bit rough there," he joked.

"It's been a long shift," Roy deadpanned. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. Fine," Johnny smiled as he pulled the sheet up some. "Ya know, Roy, you never can tell when life is gonna turn around in bite you in the a…ankle. I mean, I was mindin' my own business, just going back for the HT. I didn't do anything to make that rattler mad!" Gage added indignantly, with a wave of his hand.

"Except you probably stormed down the hill like a herd of water buffalo because you were in such a hurry," Roy said under his breath.

Johnny's head whipped around, as he stared his partner in the eye. "What did you say, Roy?"

"I said it looks like it might storm out there, so I should hurry home so I don't get soaked."

"Yeah, right," his partner answered in disbelief. "You go ahead and leave. Don't worry about me, stuck here all by myself."

"I'm sure you will find some way to entertain yourself, you usually do. The nurses should be changing shifts soon. Besides," Roy added, "the Dodgers are playin' this afternoon….unless it rains," Roy told Johnny as he headed for the door.

"Don't worry about me Pally. I'll be fine," Johnny paused. "But seriously Roy, I appreciate you stoppin' by. I know you must be beat and you have to be back on in 24."

Roy nodded his agreement. "Hey, as long as I don't get that new guy they call 'The Walking Rule Book ', everything will be fine!"

"I hope you don't get him either! You can get so darn grouchy!"

"What?" Roy turned his head sharply.

"Oh, I said you better get home so Joanne won't get grouchy," he smiled at his friend. "Don't worry about anything, Pally. Give the kids a hug from me… I wish they would spring me today, but no one ever seems to get out over the weekend. I mean, who would sign the forms?" Johnny shrugged with a grin.

Knowing that it was a losing battle to try and talk sense to his partner sometimes, Roy just said, "See ya soon, Johnny." He waved and left. As he left, he muttered to himself, "You almost died, Junior. The least you can do is stay put for a day or so!"

As he actually heading out of the hospital, it did seem to be overcast. "I hope it doesn't really rain," Roy said to himself. But by the time he made his way home, the thunder crashed regularly while the rain came down in sheets and bounced off the driveway. "Great. Just great!" Roy grumbled. He made a dash for the door but still ended up soaked. He shook himself off at the door, hung his jacket on the nearest doorknob and looked around. It wasn't that late in the morning, but Roy was surprised that the house was dark and there weren't any Sunday morning breakfast smells to tickle his nose.

"Jo," he called out quietly. He couldn't imagine she could still be asleep or that the kids could be quiet and not fight if they were left alone for 5 minutes. He silently slipped up the steps and peeked in his daughter, Jennifer's room.

As the door squeaked open, Jenny looked up from the floor where she was playing with her baby dolls. "Hi Daddy!" she exclaimed as she jumped up to give him a hug. "I happy you are home! Mommy feels yucky. She said you could take us to church. And don't forget to give me a quarter for collection. And I can't wait for Sunday school class! Miss Johnson said…."

"Jen, honey! Stop and take a breath or you are going to pass out. Now, I know it's Sunday. We will see about church and Sunday school, but first I want to go check on Mommy, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy! Can I come too? I want to see Mommy okay too."

"Tell you what Jen, why don't you play quietly with your dolls for a bit more and let me go in 'sneaky quiet' to see Mommy."

"Okie-dokie, Daddy!" Jenny beamed.

Roy left his energetic daughter and closed the door behind him. 'If someone could bottle that little kid energy, they could make a fortune!' he said to himself. He briefly paused at his son's door and without hearing any potential trouble, he passed by the room to check on Joann. He quietly eased the door open to find his wife curled up under the covers in the fetal position. His concern shot up. This was not like Joann! "Honey?" he called softly. "Joann?" Receiving no response he hurried over to her side and gently shook her, "Jo. Joann? Are you okay?" He felt her forehead and though it might be a bit warm, but under all those covers who wouldn't be?

Slight movement under the blankets alerted him to his wife's waking. "Hey Honey," a quiet voice came from under the covers as she turned to face him.

"What's wrong, Jo?"

"Nothing a hot water bottle, a couple of days and a fist full of Midol won't help."

"Oh," Roy replied with instant understanding, as he gently stroked her hair. "It's a bad one this month?"

"You could say that. It makes me fondly remember the first few months of pregnancy. It's either that or I'm ready for menopause!"

Roy snickered in spite of himself. He knew his wife was probably decades away from menopause, and who could tell if they might be blessed with more children in the future. Goodness knows that other times of the month they managed to keep in good practice!

"What's so funny mister?" Joann demanded, as she glared up at him.

"Nothing Honey," replied his placating voice, "I just can't imagine you being old enough for anything like that."

"Oh…alright then," she begrudgingly let him out of the tight spot. "Think you can manage for the day without me?"

"It'll be tough, but we can manage. You just rest. Jenny is eager to get to Sunday school and church. I'll take them and we will all have a nice long nap afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan. Thanks Roy," Jo responded and she curled back up w/ her hot water bottle and tried to ease the pain. "Oh! How is Johnny?"

"He's just fine. Don't worry," Roy added as he gently kissed her on the forehead, silently made his way out of the room and closed the door.

Roy stepped into Chris' room and found him absorbed in his newest passion, baseball. Since Chris knew he would get in big trouble throwing a ball around the house, he had settled for the newest edition of Baseball Digest. The LA Dodgers were a shoe-in as his favorite team, an interest he shared with both his dad and Uncle Johnny. "Hey sport!" Roy said as he entered the room. "How are ya doing?"

"Hey Dad! I'm good. Did you know that the Dodgers have a shot at the pennant against the Reds this year? I know they are in second place now, but they could do it!"

"That's great! Maybe we can even catch a game before the season is over."

"Cool!" Chris replied as he jumped up to hug his dad. "That would be fun! Can Uncle Johnny come too?"

"We'll have to see. Right now, we have to get ready for church."

"Aw, Dad! Do we gotta go?"

"Do we have to go?" his father corrected him. "Yes, we do. You know you and Jenny go to Sunday school and service, even if I'm not home. Just because mom's not feeling well doesn't mean you can slack off. Alright son?"

"Yeah. Okay, Dad. I just wanted to read my new magazine," Chris explained as he held up the small magazine.

"Tell you what, why don't you scoot along, get out of those pajamas and get changed. Mom already set out your clothes for you. Okay sport?" Chris nodded his agreement. As Roy headed out the door he told his son, "and you can bring the magazine in the car with you." Chris's big smile warmed Roy's heart as he headed for Jenny's room.

"Hi Jenny. Thanks for playing so nicely with your toys. Mom's not feeling good, so we are going to go to church without her."

"Okay Daddy. Can I wear my pink dress, please, please, please?"

"Mommy already set out your clothes, honey."

"But Daddyyyyy…. I love my pink dress," she whined as she came over to grab Roy's hand.

"Did you ask Mommy about your pink dress?"

"Yeah," she said, looking down at her feet.

Roy gently lifted up his daughter's chin so he could look into her eyes. "What did Mommy say, Jen?"

In a quiet voice Jenny answered, "She said, 'no', Daddy. But I really like it and wanta wear it."

"Sorry Peanut. What Mom says, goes. Besides, I'm sure she gave you all the right things to wear with what she set out." Together they looked over the dress, tights and shoes. Jenny had to agree that Joann did a good job setting everything out, and she recognized the look of "no compromise" on her dad's face, so she let it drop. Roy valiantly made it through the gauntlet of little girl's clothing with its snaps, buckles and ribbons. He even managed a decent looking braid in her long blonde hair. Finally, Jenny was ready and Roy had to rush himself to get a shower and still make it on time.

Soon the DeSoto family, minus one, were on their way to church. Baseball dominated the discussion on the road, but once they parked, the topic changed to directions of "sit still" and  
"pay attention." The kids joined their dad in the pew. Roy gave them each a quarter to hold until collection. Jenny clutched the money tightly in her hand. Chris casually slipped it into his pocket and fiddled with it there. After collection Jen and Chris left for their Sunday school classes. While Roy managed to sit and stand at the proper times, his mind rested on Johnny, and Joann too. He prayerfully expressed his gratitude for Johnny's safety repeatedly, but if Joann were to ask him what the Reverend preached on, he wouldn't be able to tell her.

Fortunately, she didn't ask. When they got home, Joann was still asleep. "Go change into your play clothes kids, while I make PBJ for lunch."

"Oh dad," came a complaint from Chris. "We get peanut butter for school lunches too!"

"Hey, no back talk. I'll tell you what, after lunch we have a nap and we can get pizza for dinner. How does that sound?"

"Great!" exclaimed Jenny.

"Okay, Dad," Chris said as he agreed with the plan. "Can we get pepperoni on it?"

"I don't see why not. Now scoot. And remember to be quiet for your mom!" he half whispered out after them.

The rest of the DeSotos day went much as planned, although Roy got very little rest between the "whispered" conversations, games of Candyland, Go Fish and general household noise. It seemed he was the only one who felt the need for a nap. And, he didn't get one.

When given the chance later in the afternoon, the kids quickly informed Joann of the pizza decision. She readily agreed. They took a family vote, and decided to get one plain pizza and one pepperoni pie. Roy could tell Joann still felt badly, because she let them all eat off paper plates. The kids thought it was a blast!

After "doing the dishes" Joann caught Roy's eye and told him, "I gotta get back to my hot water bottle honey. I'm sorry to drop this all in your lap. You need to make sure they both did their homework. You should check over Chris' to make sure he didn't take any 'shortcuts', especially in math.

Don't worry Jo," he said as he placed a tender kiss on her forehead. "You just take it easy."

'Besides,' he thought to himself, 'it's only 2 hours until bedtime.' In those two hours, Roy gained a new appreciation for his wife's skills as he tried to wrangle the children from playtime to homework time.

"Do I gotta do it now, Dad?" Chris whined.

"Yes, you have to do it now. Actually, since it's Sunday night, you should already have it done, ready for me to check it over. Is it done?"

"Almost… there was just this really cool game on yesterday, it was a double-header! The Dodgers were awesome! They beat the snot out of the Braves."

"They beat the snot of them?" Roy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah! The games were great, and the Dodgers won, 6-2 and 1-0. I was really watchin' close at the second game. Since it was so close, Mom even let me stay up until 9 to see the end of the game! It was an awesome shut-out!" Chris pounded the air with expression.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh," his dad reminded him. "Mom's resting."

"Oh, right."

"So that is why all your homework isn't done yet? Mom let you stay up to watch the game. Don't you think you should show us how you can knuckle down and get that work done now?"

"Yeah, dad," Chris said somewhat sheepishly. "I'll go up and get my books. Do you think you could help me with the long division?"

"Sure, bring it on down." While Chris got his school stuff out of his room, Jenny brought her papers over and sat next to her dad at the kitchen table.

"I have homework too, Daddy! Teacher said we have to do all these pages," Jenny explained as she held up 3 worksheets with a few letters and pictures on every page.

"Well, you sit right up here, Peanut, and we can all do homework together." While that sounded like a nice idea, Roy didn't take into account the constant vying for his attention with his two young students.

"Dad, where does the remainder go?"

"It goes here on the top of the division bar with an R next to it. But I think you need to double check your answer, you need to multiply this number…"

"Daddy, Daddy," Jenny pulled on his sleeve to get his attention. "I hafta have my red crayon to color the letter A – apple red!"

"Where is your red crayon, honey?"

"I don't know Daddy," she answered, as her eyes filled up with tears.

"Dad, which two numbers do I multiple together again?"

"Well, you take the number on this side of the division bar and…"

"Daddy! I need my red apple crayon!"

"Jenny, you know apples can be green too. Did you know that?"

"No," came the sullen reply.

"Well here are your other crayons. Why don't you just color it green or even yellow?"

As Roy turned back to Chris' math questions he missed the little voice that said, "But, I wanted to make my apple red. Just like the one teacher has on her bulletin board." She sniffed a little, but eventually decided that maybe a green and yellow striped apple might be okay.

The family circus went on until bedtime. "Now you finish that up while I put Jenny to bed. Be sure to check your work," Roy directed his son as he climbed the stairs to help Jennie get ready for bed and brush her teeth.

Some time later, a weary Roy came down to find Chris engrossed in his Baseball magazine. With his patience just about gone, Roy snatched the book from his son's hands. Chris jumped in surprise. "Have you finished your homework, young man?"

"Yeah, Dad, I did. It's all on the table." Roy looked at the table, and glanced shamefaced over to his son. "I…I just thought maybe we could turn on the radio for a sec and listen to the score of the game tonight. But I'll go to bed," Chris told his dad, hanging his head.

Roy put his face in his hands and just shook his head. "Boy, I messed that one up," he said to no one in particular. "I need to go make it right."

Roy climbed the stairs yet again and knocked softly on his son's door. "Chris," he called. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." The room was dark, except for the light spilling in the door from the hallway. Chris turned away to face the wall and give the literal cold shoulder to his Dad.

"Chris?"

"Yeah dad?"

"Could you turn around for a minute, please son?" Roy turned on a small light on the dresser. Chris turned to face his dad. His eyes were red and ready to tear, but he wiped at them angrily, willing them away so his dad wouldn't see them.

Roy crouched down to the side of his son's bed, "Chris, son," he looked right into his eyes. "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I snapped at you and grabbed your book away. I should have waited for an answer before getting angry. Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, Dad. It's okay."

"Thank you," his father simply replied, as he gathered Chris into his arms and gave him a bear hug. Roy turned off the light and headed for the door. "By the way," Roy added, "the Dodgers won 4-1."

As he closed the door and a faint cry of "Yes!" come from his son's room. Even though he was weary, Roy trudged back downstairs to double check the long division. He couldn't find where Joann kept their calculator, so it took a lot longer reviewing homework than he planned. When he finally finished he pushed in the kitchen chair, and lo and behold, he found the elusive red crayon and smiled to himself.

Morning came a few short hours later. Roy felt like he hadn't slept at all. He just tossed and turned. Since he didn't want to disturb Joann's sleep, he ended up going to the sofa, and goodness knows that sofa wasn't any good for sleeping. Even Johnny said so. Johnny. His best friend and partner, who he almost lost yesterday, to a random act of nature.

Roy didn't have any time for breakfast, or even his morning cup of coffee, but that was all okay, since Joann looked like she felt much better and was getting the kids ready for school. He gave his wife a peck on the cheek and rushed out to his small sports car.

Traffic seemed to conspire against him. He made it into work, just in time to change and get latrine duty. Johnny's substitute was a large man, in both height and width. "Hey, nice to meet you DeSoto," he said as he held out his hand. Roy shook the man's hand and was glad that he still had some feeling in it after that handshake. "I'm Yogi Andrews, just transferred in from The Big Apple. Heard it can get a little hairy out here sometimes. But, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Nothin' quite like a good barn burner, right, DeSoto," he said as he elbowed Roy in the side. It took a bit of will power on Roy's part not to rub the side where he'd just been poked.

"So is this the first station you have been out to in LA, Andrews?" Roy asked as he headed over towards the squad.

"Yup, first station. Word is I'm lucky to pull you as a partner. Hear you have been around since the beginning." Roy nodded. "Hey, all my friends call me Yogi, just like the great coach of the Yankees! You watch baseball much out here, DeSoto?"

"Well, some of us around here are Dodger fans," Roy answered.

"At least that's better than the A's with the Rollie Fingers dude and his weird mustache. But the Dodgers?" Yogi scoffed. "They don't have a prayer this season. 'The Big Red Machine' from Cincy is gonna run right over them."

"Well, they're near top of the league," Chet chimed in.

"We'll see by the end of the season. Even if they make it in their division, there's no way they could ever beat the Yanks!"

Chet blustered, ready to reply, but Roy turned away and hoped to change the topic and intensity of the discussion that seemed ready to explode around him. "So, Yogi, over here's the squad. And this is where we keep all our supplies," he said as he opened the doors on the side of the squad. Roy pulled out the necessary cases and told his temporary partner, "you'll find each station does it a bit differently, but we've found it's best, when you're subbing, to just go with that station's set-up. It keeps things from getting too confusing."

Yogi nodded in agreement. "Makes sense. I see the bags of ringers and saline. So how much of the good stuff do ya carry with ya?"

"What do you mean, good stuff? Like morphine? We keep a few doses in our stock. Since there have been some cases of squads being robbed for their inventory, we find it best to carry only a few doses. We can re-fill our supplies at Rampart Hospital whenever we are in there."

"Damn druggies and hippies, man! We don't have near that much 'flower power' out East. I guess the little flowers would wither or wilt in the cold." He snickered at his own lame joke.

Roy ignored the comment. "Every morning," he continued, "we call into the hospital to make sure our biophone is working properly."

"Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, 51," replied Dixie.

Before Roy even had a chance to break the connection, Yogi whistled and said, "Whoa! That's some sexy sounding chick!"

"Repeat, 51?" was Dixie's terse response.

"All clear Rampart," Roy answered and quickly hung up the phone. "That," he said with emphasis, "was the Head Nurse of the Emergency Department, Dixie McCall. I'll tell you right now, you don't want to get on her bad side!"

"I'm not too worried. I have pretty good luck with the girls," he bragged.

"Well," Roy said tersely, "that LADY, is critical to our being able to work smoothly with the hospital. Now, let me show you how we do our inventory."

Captain Stanley was always eager to see how a replacement would fit in with the company. After he listened to the brief exchange in the bay, he just shook his head and wished Roy all the luck in the world with this one! Maybe that new paramedic they called "The Walking Rulebook" wouldn't have been so bad, regardless of what others had to say.

After fully briefing Yogi, Roy got him turn-out gear. But, before they could hit the coffee, the tones went off. "Squad 51. Woman down at Palm Grove Mall, cross streets, Gardena Freeway and Main. Time out, 9:52."

"KMG 365," came the response, as Cap handed the paper to Roy.

"I drive," called Roy as he shouted over the sounds of the large bay door going up. Andrews nodded and quickly got into the cab. They arrived at the mall in a few short minutes. Since there didn't seem to be any crowds gathered around outside and no one was flagging them down, DeSoto called dispatch. "Dispatch, this is Squad 51. Is there any further information on our 'woman down' call?"

"!0-4, 51. See the staff outside of the large Lacy's department store, street level."

"10-4. Thanks, Dispatch."

They arrived at the site and immediately got out the necessary boxes. Roy pointed out the biophone to Yogi and he grabbed it.

There were a handful of people just outside one of the sets of double doors to the mall. Roy approached a security guard who seemed to be trying to maintain control of the situation. He was failing badly. He glanced from the guard, to the small group and spotted a husky woman with a small scrape on her forehead. "What's going on here? Is this lady the one you called us about?" he asked gesturing to the lady with the scrape on her forehead.

"Yeah, that's her, but she ain't no lady. She tried to kick me in the…"

"Was there some sort of altercation here?" DeSoto interrupted the guard.

"This…this person was seen stuffing jewelry and make-up into her pockets and purse," he continued.

"Now, see here," the woman said in a deep voice, "I had every intention of paying for those things! If this story provided little bags to carry selections in before purchase – "

"You probably would have stolen more!" piped up a sales lady whose nametag read Dolores.

"Sometimes a lady needs to restock her make-up drawer," the husky woman in the orange flowered muumuu dress. "And if these hoodlums hadn't grabbed me…"

Roy and Yogi just looked back and forth between those have a "dialogue" and each other, as they tried to maintain a profession air.

"So," Roy's voice trembled. He cleared his throat and tried again. "So what happened?"

"These two," the victim/shoplifter pointed out the guard and Dolores, "grabbed me and threw me into the door! I could sue, you know!"

"That is so not what happened," Dolores said, as she swiftly shook her short bobbed hair back and forth. "We tried to get her to stop and she ran into the door, trying to get away!"

At this Yogi lost it! "You mean you did that to yourself?" he chortled. He started to laugh and had a hard time keeping it under control. Roy shot him a look, but it lost most of its effectiveness as Roy was struggling to keep a smile off his face.

"You think it's funny, big guy? I didn't have them call for help just to be laughed at!" she retorted.

"I'm sorry… ma'am," Yogi replied with a hint of a snicker still in his voice.

"So are you going to help me, or what?"

"Okay," Roy replied. "Where are you injured?"

"My head! Can't you see the cut I have on my forehead? I almost passed out."

Roy glanced from the victim, to the mall cop, to the clerk. The latter two shook their heads no.

"Well, let me get a look at you here. Why don't you sit on the back of the squad here?"

"And get my dress dirty? No thank you! I can sit," she glanced around, "I can sit on the side of that concrete wall."

"Fine, if you want to," Roy responded, as he pointed the way with an extended hand. She settled her girth onto the edge of the low wall. It didn't look comfortable, but Roy wasn't going to say anything. He dabbed at the cut on her forehead and Yogi handed him a tiny bandage.

"Is that all you are going to do?" she demanded.

"No ma'am. I want to take a look at your eyes, and my partner here is going to take your blood pressure." Roy went to place his hand gently on top of her forehead, so he could clearly see her response to the light in her eyes. She responded to the light, or rather his touch and jerked away from him.

"What do you think you are doing?" she pulled away further and demanded to know.

"Ma'am, please, the edge of my jacket is caught on your hair." But as the "hair" shifted more, everyone could see it was a wig. "Please…just stop moving for a moment!" But his pleas fell on deaf ears.

She pulled back further and the wig came completely off and fell to the ground. "Look what you've done," she shrieked, revealing a decidedly bald head. And when everyone really looked at the figure in the comical dress, they saw a distinctly masculine face.

Everyone surrounding this fiasco started to laugh, including Yogi and the cop who made it just in time for the "performance." Roy's cheeks burned red with embarrassment. And the "woman" slapped her hands on top of her head. She looked like she was about ready to hit Roy with her bag, when the police officer interfered. "What's going on here, folks?" the young officer asked. That set off a stream of conflicting voices, laughter and noise.

"Okay, okay, one at a time. You're DeSoto, right?" he asked.

"Right, Officer Jamison," Roy answered, as he peaked at the new officer's name tag. "We received a call about a woman down, to find out this…person…suspected shoplifter, had a small cut on the forehead."

"You mean it's all covered up by that little bandage." Roy nodded his head yes. While the general, chaotic atmosphere continued to reign, the person in question tried to ease away. But it's hard to slink away when you are wearing a muumuu with large pink and orange flowers all over it. "Hold on there!" said Jamison, taking immediate and firm control of the situation. "Do you have any identification on you?"

"No," was the reserved answer.

"And in that huge handbag?"

"NO, nothing there."

"Please let me see the bag," the officer motioned with his hand. The bag was begrudgingly shoved into his hand. While looking through the bag, along with the security officer, there found sufficient evidence to hold this person. Officer Jamison glanced at the person, who he had been holding by the shoulder, "I'm going to take you in on this shoplifting charges, and if you are who I think you are, then I have some bracelets that will fit perfectly."

The sales lady grinned widely. "Jewelry is her favorite," she laughed as she headed back into the store.

Roy started to pick up the equipment, and bumped Andrews with the drug box. "Let's get going," he told his partner who was still laughing.

"So that's the kinda calls you get out here, huh, DeSoto? Fruitcakes and flower children. Wonderful!" Yogi picked up the biophone and stowed it in the squad. Yogi had a hard time keeping his snickers to himself. Roy sat stone-faced and drove. Yogi glanced over at Roy. "Come on. Lighten up! Ya gotta admit that was funny!"

Roy nodded and smiled slightly. "I guess it was pretty comical, wasn't it? I felt badly when the wig pulled off. I thought maybe it was somebody who had cancer or something and had lost all their hair."

Yogi started laughing again. "You are wayyyyyyyyyyyy too serious, DeSoto. I can tell you need to lighten up some."

"Great," Roy mumbled under his breath. "All I need is my own personal Phantom."

When they returned to the station both men sniffed the air in appreciation. "Something smells good in there!" Yogi said.

"Marco must be cooking enchiladas or something else equally fantastic," Roy replied. "But I got my duty chores to do and I'd rather get it done before lunch." With that, Roy headed for the latrine.

Yogi headed for the kitchen. Roy could hear his boisterous voice begin to tell the others about the call. It was funny, he supposed but he just wasn't it a jovial mood. 'I guess I just miss sharin' it with Johnny', he thought to himself.

By the time Roy was finished the others were setting the table. "So Roy," Chet teased, "I hear the last rescue was a hair-raising experience!" The others laughed and Roy just nodded his head good-naturedly.

Everyone dug into Marco's delicious fare, which happened to be tacos, instead of enchiladas, but no one minded at all. Roy got two bites of his taco and started to relax a little. 'Food at last.'

As if the Fates heard his thoughts, the tones went off. "Station 51. House fire, 5 Clover Circle, off Ventura. Time out- 13:10."

"10-4, Station 51. KMG, 365." Cap replied and hurried over to the engine and they followed the squad out the doors.

Just before reaching their destination, the tones sounded, "Beep, beep, beep- Cancel 51."

10-4, Station 51 returning to quarters." Cap answered with a bit of irritation.

"Some guy probably caught his grill on fire," Chet said.

"Well, I bet he didn't have tacos on it," Marco replied.

"Mushy tacos, now," Chet nodded in agreement.

From the Squad came a similar response of muted frustration. "DeSoto, does that happen often?" Andrews asked.

"No more than any other station, in any other location. You must have had cancelled calls, even in New York, right?"

"Yeah, doesn't mean I like 'em. We need something here to get the juices flowing, you know?" Yogi stated. Roy remained silent. His only thought was about a hot cup of coffee in some reasonably quiet place, soon.

Fortunately the powers that be relented, and Roy did get is cup of coffee. "Ah, that's better," Roy said with contentment. "It's too darned late to just be getting my first cup of coffee."

"What? Chet said as he passed, heading for the couch and Henry. "Your first cup? Man, that's rough. Not even any coffee at home? What's wrong? Joann mad at you or something?"

Roy tried hard to keep from growling in frustration. "I got a late start, alright?" he snapped back at Chet.

"Hey, sorry I asked," Chet replied, as he held up his hands in surrender.

"No, I'm sorry Chet. I hardly slept at all last night. I was thinking about Johnny and that snake."

"Oh man! That whole thing was really something, Roy. Ridin' on the top of Big Red, watching Johnny start his own IV. And then when he passed out! Whoa! I tell you, I wouldn't ever want your job!"

"I heard you did a good job though, Chet. You guys got him out of there. You worked to get the venom out of him. If you guys hadn't done such a great job," Roy swallowed hard, "we might be having a very different conversation right now."

"But Johnny's good now, so we can stop worrying, this time," Chet said as he plopped down on the sofa and scratched Henry's ears. "Right?"

Roy nodded in agreement, and muttered under his breath, "… this time."

Roy's respite lasted a few minutes longer until the tones sounded again, sending the station out on a MV accident on San Diego Freeway at Avalon, time out 14:25."

"Isn't that one of the big highways out here," Yogi asked.

"It sure is. It could just be a 2 car accident or a 20 car pile-up."

"Twenty cars? Damn!"

"It's probably not as bad as that or they would have sent out more than one station," Roy shared.

As they approached the accident site, they thought it looked more like a fender-bender than a deadly crash. Roy was glad that it didn't look too bad, however, Yogi was still waiting for some "action."

As Cap had the cars hosed down and battery cables popped, Roy directed Yogi to the first car. The blue beast of a car was almost as big as a tank and probably got the same amount of gas mileage. It suffered from a slightly crumbled rear fender. Yogi calmly approached the car window and saw an older lady sitting inside. Her white gloved hands rested in her lap.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked.

She peered out her window and looked him up and down with indifference. "I'm fine young man, but I am ready to be on my way, if we are done here."

Slightly flummoxed about how to respond, he motioned towards the nearest police officer. It happened to be Jamison from earlier in the day. Yogi smiled, as he recognized him. Yogi stood up and addressed the officer. "I guess she thinks I'm her butler or valet or something. She told me, 'she's ready to be on her way.'"

"Well, she and I need to have a little talk and exchange some information. If she's not hurt, I think DeSoto has a form you have to get her to sign."

"Great! Thanks for your help," Yogi said, as he headed towards Roy and this form.

Meanwhile, Roy headed for the smaller car whose windshield was fractured and entire front end folded in on itself.

Roy ducked his head into the driver's compartment briefly and pulled back out.

"What have you got Roy?" Cap asked. One look at Roy's face let him know what they had – injuries incompatible with life.

"Could you just grab me a blanket, please Cap?"

"Sure Pal. Be right back."

Roy just shook his head sadly as he peeled open the blanket and laid it over the young man's battered and bloody body.

"So, DeSoto, the old bat over there is ready to go. Is there something about filling about a form for denying care?"

Roy turned around to give the other paramedic his attention. "Yeah, they are in the squad. I'll show you where we keep them." As they walked away from the site of the second car, one quick glance at the blanket covered figure and Roy's shadowed gaze led Yogi to the only conclusion possible.

As they headed back to the firehouse, the quiet in the squad was oppressive. At least Yogi thought so. "Hey man," he said as he patted Roy's shoulder, "that's tough no matter how long you have been on the job." Roy nodded his head in agreement and they continued on, but with a more comfortable silence between them. They made it back to the station in time for Chet to start making dinner. Roy just looked over at the meal preparations and groaned quietly. 'I was really hungry too,' he said to himself.

"So partner, why the long face?" Yogi asked Roy.

"Oh, nothing," he replied. "It's been a really long day…or three." Roy headed for the coffee pot and his first cup of the day…afternoon.

" So what do you guys do around here after assignments are done?" Yogi asked.

Mike looked up from the newspaper, smiled and waved in Yogi's direction. "Well, if I don't feel like readin'?" he added. "Wait! You done w/ the sports page, Stoker?"

"Yeah, sure," Mike told him as he held out the section to the new man.

"Awesome!" he said as he snatched the section out of Mike's hand. "Gotta see what the scores and rankings are today!"

"Let me guess," Chet deadpanned, "baseball?"

"Of course baseball! When you come from the greatest city in the world with the best ballteam on the planet, you gotta keep up on these things!" Busily absorbed in the Sports section, Yogi missed the guys giving each other looks and the general rolling of eyeballs.

Chet busied himself with chopping up the vegetables for his secret "Casserole Supreme". No one dared to ask anything more than what it was called. Mike and Marco shared the paper, while Roy sat and sipped his warm cup of coffee. Yogi made some noises towards the baseball stats, but didn't do more than make the occasional sound or grunt. Cap was in his office, as usual, up to his eyeballs in paperwork. Peace and quiet must have reigned for all of 20 minutes before the squad got toned out on a "child injured" call. As much as calls with kids bothered Roy, he was pleased that he had managed to at least finish his cup of coffee!

The "child injured" call turned out to be a child down call, but only because the boy's bike turned in one direction and the boy's body turned the other direction. A makeshift plywood ramp seemed to be the culprit of the fall. The boy's mom was present and didn't seem overly upset or worried. Roy glanced up at her and said, "I think his arm is broken here, ma'am."

"I thought as much," she replied with a nod. "He's my third boy, Jimmy. We've been through this a time or two before."

"I can imagine," Roy nodded in agreement. He looked down at the boy while he held the arm steady and Yogi splinted it. "I bet having two older brothers doesn't make it too easy, does it son?"

"Nah! But I'm not gonna cry like a baby or anything!"

"We never thought you would, Buddy," Yogi chimed in. Roy smiled at this, the first sign of Yogi's patient interaction and involvement.

"So, here comes an ambulance," said Jimmy's mom. "I guess we are heading to the hospital. Which one?"

"Rampart, ma'am. You can ride in the front of the ambulance if you like."

"Hey Jimmy, you doin' okay there?" she asked as she ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, mom. I'm fine," he said with a shake of his head. He didn't want to look like a little kid in front of these to firemen.

"Well, since you are obviously okay, Jimmy, I'm going to follow you in with the car, so we have a way to get back home." She dragged her fingers absently thru her own tossled hair, in a way that strongly reminded Roy of Johnny.

"Somehow," she told the paramedics, "these things always seem to happen when my husband is out of town."

"My wife would agree with you, except for us, it's when I'm on duty," Roy told her. "Jimmy should be just fine. He may not be feeling a whole lot of pain now, but that arm is gonna start hurting soon. Maybe you can let him know it's okay to admit it, and the hospital can give him something to help the whole x-ray and casting experience go better. "

As Yogi got into the back of the ambulance with young Jimmy, Roy gave the back of the rig the customary smack. Once the ambulance was on its way, Jimmy mom turned back to Roy. "Thanks for your advice, Mr. DeSoto. He just wanted to show you guys how 'tough' he was, but once he starts hurting, I think Mom will prevail. Thank you very much," she said, as Roy picked up the boxes and returned them to the rig.

Roy followed the ambulance in, before Yogi had time to go in and meet the good doctors and nurses in the ER, they got called back out. From there it seemed like one call after another—a possible heart attack, which turned out to be ingestion from a chili eating contest, then there was the diabetic who forgot to refill their insulin prescription and wanted a lift to the hospital to get an injection and a refill. The calls ran right through dinner.

"Man, DeSoto, I am hungry! Does it ever stop?

And what about that bozo who didn't bother to refill the script so they needed to go to the hospital? You can't tell me he couldn't drive himself there!"

Roy just shrugged, very accustom to this type of type of tirade. "Well, there's good news and bad news, Yogi. I'm sure we missed dinner."

"So, what's the good news?"

"That is the good news! It was Chet's turn to cook. I think I heard him telling Marco that he was trying a new vegetarian casserole with something call tofu. It's supposed to be the newest rage in healthy eating."

"I don't want any strange mystery veggie slop for dinner! Too bad we couldn't have gotten into that chili contest. It smelled pretty good."

"It did smell good, but I think our patient 'licked the platter clean'. Before we get another call, feel like stopping for some burgers?" Roy asked.

"YES!" came the enthusiastic reply.

Roy pulled off at the nearest fast food place, parked the squad and told Yogi, "you can run in and get the food, but you have to take the HT with you. If we get called out before the order is filled, we still have to leave. "

"Let's hope they are quick!" Yogi said, as he grabbed Roy's money for his part of the order.

The powers that be were merciful and the guys chowed down on their burgers and fries. They even made it back to the station. The rest of the crew were sitting around the table playing cards. Dinner was finished hours ago, but Chet offered the guys some leftovers of his "great casserole."

Yogi walked over to the fridge and peered into at the slightly brown and lumpy looking concoction. He made a sour face in Roy's direction.

"Thanks anyway, Chet. But we stopped and got something on the way back to the barn," Roy

told his crewmate.

"Lucky," Stoker muttered under his breath as he got ready to deal out the cards. "You guys want in?"

"No thanks," Roy told them. "All I want to do is sit down with a cup of coffee for a few minutes before we get another…"

"Cool it, Roy," Marco reminded his friend of the unspoken jinx of talking about runs.

Roy headed for the coffee pot, then held a cup up and caught Yogi's gaze. Yogi nodded yes and joined in the game.

The guys managed to play a hand or two before Cap came out and suggested it was time

to turn in. Roy looked about ready to fall asleep in his coffee as a friendly hand clapped him

on the shoulder. "Let's call it a night, Roy."

Roy looked dully up at Cap and nodded his agreement.

"Why don't you let me take that cup for you, pal?" Again Roy nodded his agreement as he

pulled himself of out of the chair. "How many runs did you have today, Roy?"

"An even dozen, I guess Cap. It's just be a long couple days."

"It sure has been that, Pal," Cap agreed with a pat on the shoulder.

"You guys have any real fires while we were babysitting?" Yogi chimed in.

"Babysitting?" Cap asked.

"Yeah, a bunch of nuisance calls. They didn't really need us," Yogi explained. "Although the

guy in the dress this morning was still pretty fun!

"We don't pick 'em," Cap reminded his men, "we just go where we are called. And right now

the bunks are calling our names."

"Mine sure is," Roy agreed as he got up some speed and hustled through the door to take

care of business and then, blissfully, to bed.

It was quiet just long enough for the guys to get comfortable, relaxed and start to drop off.

Then the tones sounded, for what seemed like a very long time. The initial call went out to

four stations. From the address given, it sounded like it was in the warehouse section of the

docks. Roy already knew the area, so he didn't have to rely on Yogi to navigate for him. From

one tired glance Roy could tell that his partner was excited. "Well," Roy thought to himself, "at

least he's got his 'barn burner.'"

The Battalion Chief was already on site, by the time 51 arrived. "Set up on the eastern

exposure," they were told. And the several companies followed orders, beat down the flames with a surround and drown and to kept it from spreading. Thankfully, no one was in the building and no fire fighters were hurt. But it did take all night to knock down the fire, overhaul and general clean-up.

When they got back to the firehouse, Mike kindly made coffee for everyone as they shuffled thru the showers, praying they wouldn't get a call in their last hour of duty. While most of the guys seemed tired and mellow, Yogi seemed energized. Maybe he really did need his "barn burner" to get him going. It certainly gave him the energy to sing "Take me out to the Ballgame" thru 4 times while in the shower!

By the time he was through, the guys were all ready to throw him out to the ballgame! Mercifully, there were no more calls before shift change. The guys changed and Roy and Chet agreed to drive over to the hospital to see Johnny. Chet was sent on a donut run, knowing that he and Roy were hungry and was convinced that the bottomless pit that was Johnny would be too.

Roy slowly made his way to Johnny's room. While he knew in his head Johnny was fine, he just wanted to see it for himself, one more time. Johnny was upbeat as usual when Roy opened the door. "Come in! Come on in. That nice Mrs. Peterson from up by Doc Frick's dropped of some great cookies last night." John glanced at his partner. "Geez Roy. You're lookin' rough. Sit down and take a load off. Tough shift?" Johnny asked as Roy plopped into the chair.

"You have no idea," Roy answered.

"Well, I was talkin' to the doc and they said they might spring me later today!"

"That's great Johnny. Do you know when?"

"Maybe some time early this afternoon. Now I can tell ya need to get home and rest up some, but how about we watch this great double header with the Dodgers this afternoon?"

Roy bolted up from his chair. "No. I can't do that!" he said backing towards the door with glazed look in his eyes.

As Roy reached for the door, Chet popped in. "Hey Roy!"

"I gotta go. Bye." Roy told them both as he left the room quickly.

"What did you say to him, Gage?"

"Nothin'! I just asked if he wanted to watch some baseball on tv today."

"Well," said Chet as he opened the box of donuts, grabbed for a jelly one and handed the box to his friend, "sounds good to me!"

"Me too," John echoed. "Me too!"

The end, for now. Because ya never know when Yogi might have to cover for one of the guys again. ;-)


End file.
